This invention relates to DC-to-AC power inverters and DC-to-DC power converters in which operation may range continuously through boost and buck operating modes in response to different combinations of input and output voltage or current.
Applications such as those found in spacecraft require that DC power converters for converting battery voltage to a bus or load operating voltage be light in weight, highly reliable, and highly efficient. Innumerable schemes for power conversion are known, their very number being such as to make a decision as to the best operating system difficult to determine. Among the problems associated with spacecraft operation are wide variability in the direct voltage available because of variations in generation by solar cells, and wide variation in the electrical load which is to be supplied. Further problems include the relatively small amount of energy which is available from solar cells, batteries and the like, which may range from a few hundred to a few thousand watts at the current state of the art, and the difficulty of rejecting heat, which requires high efficiency to reduce heat generation.